Chapter 6 : The Declaration of Independence – Study Guide

How do natural rights, as described in the Declaration of Independence, differ from other rights?

People are born with natural rights.

What describes the mood in the colonies immediately following the events at Lexington and Concord?

Most of the colonists were reluctant to start a war.

To Great Britain, the signing of the Declaration of Independence was an act of what?

An act of treason.

The Continental army was composed of what?

Troops from all the colonies.

Why was the Declaration of Independence written?

To explain why the colonies were separating from Great Britain.

What decision was made at the Second Continental Congress?

To form an army.

Why was George Washington chosen to be a military leader?

He had experience.

In a draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson charged the king with violating the “scared rights of life and liberty…of a distant people [by] carrying them into slavery.” This passage was removed for what reasons?

It was an unimportant issue in the colonies.

How did the colonies cooperate with one another?

They came together to form one army.

Patrick Henry gave a famous speech that ended with the words “give me liberty, or give me death!” With which group did he identify himself?